WIPocalypse 2020 Check-In, January 26, 2020

Question of the month: What SAL’s are you participating in this year? Well, for someone who hasn't stitched for nearly a year, I was overly ambitious. I signed up for four SALs, in addition to WIPocalypse! I thought maybe they'd keep me diverted from my BAP UFO/WIPs and allow me to get in some practice on linen/evenweave. SAL #1 is the Stitchonomy Year of SALs.  It appealed to me because it came in small installments over a two month period for each SAL, with the first one - "Homely Houseplants" - starting in earnest on February 1, although the "frame" was released in January. And I have stitched the frame! The second SAL is "A Year of Blackwork" from Peppermint Purple. Installments on this one come faster - one a week - but they are small and it gives me a chance to get back into handling blackwork with my wonky hand. To date, there are four releases as well as four potential borders (I picked the most complex one, naturally!) and here is my progress to date: The third one is the Linen & Threads 2020 Mystery Sampler, with installments coming monthly.  I only got this far,  only to find that I had miscalculated my fabric size so I have to start over!  I have yet to frog the stitching and put the piece back in my stash: New fabric is here but I'm not at all sure that the threads I have work --- despite the description of the new yard of fabric as lavender, when it sits next to purple, it turns green! VERY green! So new thread is on order. here's hoping it works as this is getting to be a very expensive SAL! The fourth SAL is "Christmas Shadowbox Mystery SAL with Faithwurks Designs & Just CrossStitch". It will be released in segments starting in the April, 2020 issue of Just CrossStitch, continuing through December 2020. It is meant to be in a "tray" of sorts and the variety of threads and embellishments is humongous. I'm thinking I may simplify, substituting threads, omitting charms and the like, and stitching it as a simple sampler. I have the list of supplies and will decide when the issue arrives... ​~~~~~ As for finishes this month, there actually is one! The second Michael Powell "Beach Huts Scissor Keep" from his kit of the same name: Now that the two scissor keep pieces are done, I've decided to NOT make a scissor keep but to make two small ornaments instead.  And the two smaller designs in the kit, meant to become a key fob, may or may not be stitched... ~~~~~ Other progress on WIPs: I actually stitched on "Love Is..." --- almost completed a row of words, and found out why this is a near-UFO. I HATE stitching words! Especially when they include French knots! And there is SOOOO much left to do! On the left is where I left off  in February 2017; on the right, Where I am now...

WIPocalypse 2020 - the start of a new year!

We are supposed to introduce ourselves and our projects and list any goals for the coming year in this post.

To start an introduction. I'm Carol a recovering stitchaholic who has been sidelined for a few years by injuries to my left wrist --- first I broke it and had surgery (and a plate) to fix it about three years ago. I recovered from the break, regained the use of that hand after extensive physical therapy, and finally and recovered my stitching mojo in 2019. So I started to stitch again (in March of 2019). Then, last July, a tendon that had been  rubbing on that plate (or to be more precise, one one of the screws that held the plate on the bone) and ruptured. It's remarkable how valuable that thumb is and how much trouble it is to have a non-working one! More surgery for a tendon graft and more physical therapy. The hand is almost back to normal, although that thumb will probably never be as flexible as it once was.

So for goals.  One goal, really. I hope to start stitching again this year.*

As for projects, they will be as follows:

WIPs/UFOs from years past:

• Elizabeth Almond's "Save the Stitches" blackwork sampler, started in late February of 2014 and put away in April of 2015​
• "Biltmore", a kit I purchased at the Biltmore Estate in July of 2014 and stitched on briefly in the coffee shop at that estate. I have stitched on it once or twice since then but made little progress from my sole published photo - in fact it has regressed a little since much of the work I did in that coffee shop had to be frogged. This piece also lives in my travel bag
• "Love Is.., an intended first anniversary gift for a niece which has missed that deadline and may not make the second as well at there ate I am going. Started in September 0f 2016 and was put away when I broke my wrist, brought out briefly in February of 2017 as a test run of my wrists ability to hold the frame, and put back after an hour and less than four backstitched letters - no shown here (and/or frogged letters!)

A WIP from before the tendon rupture:

• the key fob for Michael Powell's "Beach Huts Scissor Keep Kit"

Of course, my stash is still littered with nearly finished needlepoint which requires only backstitching and blocking to be finished, as well as one crewel piece, at least one large blackwork round-robin and some quilt tops. Odds of me getting to those are slim to none... And I'm not even counting pieces which are ready to finish-finish. Maybe someday...
While WIPocalypse is a SAL devoted to cleaning up one's WIP/UFO stash, I think I really will need to take on some new starts, simply because!  So I signed up for two freebie SALs (you have to sign up for each, and one has a private Facebook group for getting the charts). Both are stitched in relatively small chunks which, hopefully, won't stress me out and give me a break from the BAPs in my WIP listing:

• the Homely Houseplants SAL from Stitchonomy's One Year of SALS which technically starts in February 
• The Year of Blackwork SAL from Peppermint Purple which started January 1.

In addition, I have been collecting the sampler SALs from Linen and Threads for three years now and possibly could start one of those (no deadlines since theses SALs are technically over as SALs...).

*And I have, three nights of 1.5 or more hours per night so far! Lots of hand cramping on night one; lots of needle dropping on night two and lots of nerve pain on night three. But I persevered!

WIPocalypse 2019 Check-In - December 30, 2019

Sorry --- I'm late but I've been late with EVERYTHING this holiday season!

This check-in is supposed to be a wrap-up of the year: a recap of our accomplishments for the year! (our finishes, our final before/after photos, etc).

Well, given my near complete lack of stitchery  for at least 7 months of the year, this will be a short post.

In January, I was nearly totally recovered from my broken wrist and getting motivated to start stitching. My WIPs/UFOs were listed as:

• Elizabeth Almond's "Save the Stitches" blackwork sampler, started in late February of 2014 and put away in April of 2015​
• "Palm Tree Elegance", a Dimensions needlework piece in my travel bag (I only stitch on this while traveling, in hotel rooms, etc.), started in November 2010 and put away after the last road trip in July of 2016
• "Biltmore", a kit I purchased at the Biltmore Estate in July of 2014 and stitched on briefly in the coffee shop at that estate. I have stitched on it once or twice since then but made little progress from my sole published photo - in fact it has regressed a little since much of the work I did in that coffee shop had to be frogged. This piece also lives in my travel bag
• "Love Is.., an intended first anniversary gift for a niece which has missed that deadline and may not make the second as well at there ate I am going. Started in September 0f 2016 and was put away when I broke my wrist, brought out briefly in February of 2017 as a test run of my wrists ability to hold the frame, and put back after an hour and less than four backstitched letters - no shown here (and/or frogged letters!)

​I only managed to stitch on one of these - Palm Tree Elegance - which looked like this:

before the new stitches were put in on March 1, and was finished on April 26:

Now I should have pulled out one of the other three WIPS but I simply couldn't face them (two were basically all back-stitch which I found hard to control in short bursts and the third was on high count AIDA in light colors on white, so very hard to see...) so I decided to start something new, and small, and on canvas where I could get used to cross-stitches on 14 ct or greater...

​ I picked a Michael Powell twinchie key fob kit and finished one on July 9, 2019:

and got part-way through a second (below is where it stood on July 16):

Then, with a ruptured tendon to my left thumb and subsequent surgery and recuperation, no more stitching was done in 2019... Heck, I even missed the August check-in!

The hand is recovered but my mojo hasn't.  

WIPocalypse 2019 Check-In - November

The discussion topic for this month was:

"What new stitches or techniques did you learn this year?"

I usually learn new stitches when a) doing samplers (basically self-teaching using diagrams and the occasional online video), b) doing enhanced needlepoint. (that's what I call it, not sure it that is a real name for it), or doing free embroidery challenges/classes like TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday). I did my last TAST sampler back in 2014 and while I often applied some of these free embroidery stitches in my crazy quilting, I haven't done any of that since 2015. So I guess you'd have to say I've stagnated for the past 5 years, using plain-old cross-stitch, backstitch, and tent stitch when I have stitched at all. So, since I didn't stitch much at all this year and not at all this last month, I didn't learn any new stitches.

​I did finish my physical therapy for my tendon graft surgery at the end of October and had my next-to-last surgeons' visit in early November (the 12-week period when tendon grafts tend to be totally healed). He said if the pain I had been experiencing  in the thumb joint(a gift, he said, for having opposable thumbs, AKA arthritis) and the unpredictable flash of nerve pain (possible the result of adhesions to the scar). I could cancel the one scheduled for December 17. Given the steady decrease in pain over the past few weeks (I've been faithfully continuing the PT exercises at home n my own), I suspect I will be canceling that appointment and possibly even get back to stitchery after the holiday fuss and bother is done and dusted.

WIPocalypse 2019 - October Check-In

This month's topic for discussion is:

"Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time?"
Well, I have to say that it varies with me. If I am working on a small-to-medium sized piece, I prefer to stick with it until it is finished. However, in the past few years, I have been stitching massive BAPs (the Ink Circles original "Roll Your Own" series and Elizabeth Almond's blackwork sampler the most recent examples) and I find that I preferred rotation with those. 

Since "Roll Your Own" is no complete, I have no excuses for one at a  time but... given my injuries to my left hand over the past three years, stitching one at a time on smaller pieces seems more likely in my future, especially since I don't seem to be able to put in the time necessary to make much visible progress on the BAPs. And I find that visible progress is now what motivates me.

~~~~~
As for my stitchery progress this past month. Again, sadly nil, zip, nada, none! I have spent the past two months in occupational therapy, getting my thumb to a workable state again. My final (I hope) visit to the surgeon is November 5 and I hope that he agrees with the therapist that I have reached my goals and no more therapy is warranted (although I suspect hand exercises are on my daily routine from now on as there is still pain in my hand when I make certain movements with the thumb,  and that pesky thumb isn't nearly as flexible on my left hand as the one on my right hand...)

WIPocalypse Check-In: Septmeber 29, 2019

This month's topic for discussion is: "What finishing style have you never tried but would love to do?"

​I can't say that there are many that I haven't tried.

I have done framing, three-dimensional (mainly boxes and ornaments but also pillows and easels/stand-ups), even banners! I can't say I've had rousing success with all of them...I still prefer a professional framer to my own handiwork and getting banners cut right, hemmed and properly lined is a pain I associate with my terrible record with making quilts (many of which have featured embroidery, although not cross-stitch)!

I have never tried using cross stitch on cards (although I have stitched on paper) and don't really see the need for that.

~~~~~

​As per usual, I have not stitched at all this month because of my wrist/thumb injury. I am out of the splint and in to strength-building PT for at least three more weeks. I see the surgeon for the second follow-up on October 3. We shall see if the thumb will ever be "nornmal" enough to allow me to hold a hoop again...

WIPocalypse Check-In, August 25, 2019 (a few weeks late here)

This month's question was:

"What do you have on your stitching bucket list?  (for example, specific projects, designers, fibers, etc)"
Well, on August 25 (the day this was supposed to be posted), I had been dealing with a cast and subsequent splint on my left hand resulting from a rupture of the flexor tendon to my left thumb on July 24 and surgery to repair said tendon on July 26. I'm still in therapy (passive exercises only) and see the surgeon on September 9 to see if the splint can be removed and active therapy. followed by stength building, can be initiated. So, clearly, I did no stitching this month!

​Getting full use of my left hand with a capable left thumb is my immediate bucket list goal. And someday getting BACK to stitching is the entirety of my bucket list right now!